Chris Wilder relieved with crucial Northampton Town win

Northampton Town manager Chris Wilder was left sweating as he watched his side close the gap on their relegation rivals after they made it back-to-back wins against promotion-chasing Burton Albion.

A solitary goal from John Marquis earned relegation-threatened Cobblers all three points in their 1-0 victory at Sixfields.

It wasn't enough to take Cobblers out of the relegation zone but, with their rivals slipping up, Wilder knows the victory has given his side a big chance to climb to safety.

Wilder said: "It became a long second half for me, especially with a lot of stoppage-time, but we've beaten a decent side who had a chance of going into the automatic places before the game.

"We've had to work hard for our victory, but we've had to all season, and we've done it together. The results have gone our way elsewhere which makes a change because when we've won all our rivals have been picking up good results.

"I want to say thank you for the support today, they were was magnificent. You sometimes get a vibe when you walk through a club on matchday, and I thought the vibe here today was a really good one.

"We started off on the front foot, and the supporters really gave us a lift, especially in the second half. And we have definitely done it together, so I thank the supporters for the help and backing they have given everybody on the football pitch."

Burton boast the best defensive away record in the division but goals on the road have been hard to come by and boss Gary Rowett saw his side fail to seriously look like getting back into the contest.

Rowett said: "It was a very disappointing performance from us, we were poor in the warm-up and we took that into the game.

"It was a sloppy start from us, we knew how Northampton were going to play it but they showed a bit more desire than we did. That was the disappointing thing for me, we never really got to grips with it in the first half.

"Their goal came from an error, which summed up the game, it was very scrappy. Rob (Lainton) has been beaten by the ball swerving and it's caught him on the end of his finger, I think he's damaged some tendons and that's why he had to come off.

"That was double blow, conceding the goal and losing Rob and it left us chasing the game in the second half .

"We've ended up with almost a front four but I can't really remember us creating a decent chance. Our best opportunity came in the first half through Shane Cansdell-Sherriff, he maybe should have done better but it was a good save from (Matt) Duke.

"We didn't play with enough tempo in the first half, Northampton showed they've got a lot of desire to stay in this division, but we didn't do enough with the squad we've got.

"The pressure was on today, people might have seen it as fifth against second from bottom but in this division it's not as simple as that. It's all about which team has the more desire and Northampton had more desire than we did."